Ahmed Humayun Kabir Topu

Rampant encroachment and indiscriminate pollution have long been choking the Boral River in the Chalan Beel area of Pabna’s Chatmohar upazila by restricting its natural flow.

Tucked away on the banks of the Jamuna in Pabna’s Bera upazila, the remote village of Haturia holds on to a remarkable past.

Mental health in Bangladesh remains a topic many find difficult to discuss even in 2025, entangled in social stigma and widespread misconceptions.

An illegal township has sprouted on around 150 acres of railway land previously leased out for agriculture and fish farming in Bhangura upazila of Pabna.

When monsoon waters from surrounding rivers pour into Chalan Beel, the vast wetland once famed as the “House of Fish” comes alive. For generations, fishing in the wet season and field farming in the dry season sustained its people. In recent decades, thousands of ducks have joined the ecosystem, gliding across the waters in their flocks, lifting people out of poverty and reshaping the economy.

Dredging work of the Ichamati river in Pabna town has been badly hampered due to a prolonged legal battle with encroachers, raising concerns over the completion of the Tk 1,554 crore project.

Travelling to northern and southern districts through the Bonpara-Kushtia highway has become miserable due to the dilapidated condition of the road from Natore’s Bonpara to Dashuria in Pabna.

The Padma river has been swelling rapidly over the past weeks, flooding low-lying areas and cropland around the river and shoal areas in three upazilas of Pabna.